Type
File Name
Location
Mermaid was first discovered in December 2019 in enterprise cloud environments. Mermaid is found in environments with a number of different names, including Deniz Kizi, DenizKizi, etc. For a full list of all names, please see below.
Name
Mermaid
First Seen
December 2019
Mermaid is known to target specific file types. Below are all known file types that Mermaid is known to infect.
In some cases, ransomware will update the modified date, when it encrypts files. Mermaid updates the last modified date of the file it targets.
Some ransomware will change or append a suffix to the end of the file after they are encrypted, including changing the extension of a file. Here are some of the possible suffixes that Mermaid ransomware is known to change.
Suffixes
.Deniz_Kızı, .Deniz_Kizi
Not all ransomware leaves a note. However, some ransomware leaves the infected party instructions on what the user should do to get rid of the ransomware, or satisfy the ransom. This often involves transferring money, often bitcoin or another cryptocurrency to a designated wallet.
Below are the type(s) of notes, content, and typical locations where Elastio has found ransom notes from Mermaid.
Type File Name Location file Please Read Me!!!.hta UserFolders file Lütfen Beni Oku!!!.log UserFolders, RootDirectory file Please Read ME!!!.log UserFolders file Beni_Oku!!!.hta UserFolders
These are the names of the executables that contain the undetonated ransomware payload for Mermaid.
Executables
Ztarter.exe, Konyalı Zula Hack V4 2019.exe, k.exe, svchost.exe, svchost.exe.zp.bin, Starter.exe, Starter.bin, Deniz_Kızı.exe
Ransomware often links to external pages such as payment pages, telegram contacts, etc. Below are some of the URLs Elastio has found to be associated with Mermaid.
External Pages
